How hot is too hot?

So, I have the new macbook pro 15". Playing WoW the temperature tends to be in the mid 70 celcius range, for the CPU, I'm casual and don't raid or anything like that. I have a cooling pad that it sits on. Most of the time I play sitting on the coach with it in my lap using the track pad (yeah it works fine when you get used to it).

Is this temperature range abnormal? I used to play on an old 2006 macbook, so actually having the settings on anything but minimum is awesome. It's a real treat, but it seems to run hotter than I remember (haven't played in a year, WoTLK was unplayable on the macbook). The settings are set to blizzard recommended performance guide.

70 for a laptop running a cpu intensive app is normal. The fan should be kicking in at over 6,000 rpms at that temperature, meaning you should have no trouble hearing them spinning. CPU temperatures are lower on desktops and should stay cooler than laptops, because laptops are designed to be more power efficient and in order to do that, they have to allow a higher threshold for heat.

Around 85C (I think) is where OS X begins to scale the clock back so you will see a very sudden and very noticeable drop in your frame rate. I have a chill pad (don't recall the exact brand) that I use when gaming to help keep the temp down. Another tip, if you are playing WoW, is to use the maxfps chat command to keep your frame rate lower. Currently, I have mine set to 25 which keeps the CPU/GPU temps down to 55-60C. Sure, I notice the difference but I know I won't burn anything out and the game is very playable.

Around 85C (I think) is where OS X begins to scale the clock back so you will see a very sudden and very noticeable drop in your frame rate.

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Just reading this on a 15" MBP5,1 with Firefox (Facebook, Gmail, this page and some python.org pages) and Thunderbird running I get around 80˙C as diode temp. The laptop is on my lap and since it is a chilly day it is quite comfortable. The fan is hardly making any noise at all. But then again, the lap is a great heatsink

Running a MBP 15" (2.53Ghz NV9600 512MB) sat on an aluminium desk stand some apps open but CPU idling right now (between 75 and 95% free CPU). Took a quick screenshot of my temperatures for comparison.

I don't play any games on it. I usually browse, do some work while having 6 tabs open. Right now it's at

and I just don't understand all the info given. Remember, 'knew2mack'....I am not kidding in the least bit. Actually I guess I'm basically new to computers. So in your response, please write in layman's terms.

So, I have the new macbook pro 15". Playing WoW the temperature tends to be in the mid 70 celcius range, for the CPU, I'm casual and don't raid or anything like that. I have a cooling pad that it sits on. Most of the time I play sitting on the coach with it in my lap using the track pad (yeah it works fine when you get used to it).

Is this temperature range abnormal? I used to play on an old 2006 macbook, so actually having the settings on anything but minimum is awesome. It's a real treat, but it seems to run hotter than I remember (haven't played in a year, WoTLK was unplayable on the macbook). The settings are set to blizzard recommended performance guide.

Click to expand...

I have a 2010 MBP 13. I play WoW with an external 1920x1200 monitor. When I 25-man raid in ICC I see the temps go as high as 80 degrees. I make sure the MBP is open, I hear the fan running high but I haven't had a problem yet... with my smok'n 20 FPS

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